Safaricom Group Net Income Rises 61% to KES 73.7 Billion as M-PESA and Data Power FY26 Growth

Safaricom has posted a group profit after tax of KES 73.7 billion for the year ended 31 March 2026, up 61% from KES 45.8 billion in the prior year, with net income attributable to shareholders rising 37% to KES 95.6 billion from KES 69.8 billion. Group service revenue grew 11.5% to KES 414.1 billion from KES 371.4 billion, with group total revenue up 10% to KES 427.6 billion. Group EBITDA rose 27.9% to KES 220.3 billion while EBIT grew 40.6% to KES 146.3 billion, reflecting strong operational leverage across the Kenya business and continued cost discipline.

Safaricom Kenya Performance:

Safaricom Kenya delivered another strong year, with service revenue growing 10% to KES 400.8 billion and net income rising 24.7% to KES 119.1 billion. The Kenya EBIT margin expanded to 44.2% from 41.4%, with operating free cash flow rising 16.7% to KES 173.7 billion, underscoring the sustained cash generation capacity of the business. One-month active customers in Kenya grew 7.6% to 39.92 million, with 90-day active customers up 20.1% to 57.93 million.

M-PESA:

M-PESA remained the dominant growth driver, with revenue rising 13.4% to KES 182.7 billion, now accounting for 45.6% of total Kenya service revenue from 44.2% in the prior year. Total transaction value grew 8.9% to KES 41.68 trillion while transaction volumes surged 25.1% to 46.41 billion, with chargeable transaction values growing faster at 17% and chargeable volumes rising 27.6%, pointing to deepening monetisation across the platform. Consumer payments contributed the largest share of M-PESA revenue growth at 53.6%, rising 18.4% to KES 74.6 billion, while business payments grew 16.5% to KES 56.7 billion.

The merchant base expanded 71% to 3.1 million, driven by Pochi which grew 81.5% to 2.09 million tills and Lipa Na M-PESA which rose 54.2% to 1.04 million merchants. Fuliza disbursements grew 49.3% to KES 1.47 trillion with distinct customers more than doubling to 17.7 million, reflecting increasing reliance on the platform’s overdraft facility for day-to-day cash flow management.

Wealth management continued its rapid expansion, with assets under management more than doubling to KES 21 billion, driven largely by Ziidi whose AUM grew over 100% to KES 18.7 billion. During the year, Safaricom launched Ziidi Trader in partnership with the Nairobi Securities Exchange and Kestrel Capital, enabling customers to buy and sell listed securities directly from the M-PESA app, broadening the platform’s reach beyond savings into active capital markets participation.

Connectivity: Data Overtakes Voice

Connectivity revenue grew 6.9% to KES 197.9 billion, with a notable shift in its composition. Mobile data became the largest contributor at 42.1% of connectivity revenue, overtaking voice at 41.3% for the first time, reflecting a structural shift in how customers use the network. Mobile data revenue rose 14.4% to KES 83.4 billion, supported by 4G device penetration growing 30.7% to 29.15 million and average data consumption per subscriber rising 16.6% to 4.92 gigabytes per month. The rate per megabyte declined 12.1% to 5.44 cents, pointing to continued affordability improvements.

Voice revenue grew a modest 1.3% to KES 81.8 billion, with minutes of use per subscriber rising 5.4%, though partially offset by an 8.5% decline in the outgoing rate per minute. Messaging revenue fell 11.8% to KES 11 billion as customers continue to migrate to over-the-top platforms, a trend Safaricom acknowledges is structural and in line with global industry patterns.

Fixed Service and IoT

Fixed service and IoT revenue grew 12.2% to KES 20.2 billion, with fibre-to-the-home customers rising 35% to 407,080 and homes passed growing 16.2% to 807,016. Consumer fixed revenue grew 19.5% to KES 9 billion while enterprise fixed revenue rose 5.5% to KES 10 billion. IoT revenue grew 20.8% to KES 1.13 billion. Fixed Wireless Access customers grew 53% to 132,060, contributing 52.3% of total connection growth during the year, reflecting strong demand for 5G-based home connectivity.

Safaricom Ethiopia Performance: 

Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia posted service revenue of KES 14.1 billion, up 86.6% from KES 7.5 billion, with 90-day active customers surging 54.2% to 13.63 million and one-month active customers rising 48.3% to 10.75 million. Mobile data remained the dominant revenue stream at 67.9% of total service revenue, with data revenue growing 69% to KES 9.6 billion, while voice revenue surged 156.3% to KES 3 billion as the customer base and usage patterns deepened.

Despite the revenue progress, Ethiopia continued to post an operating loss of KES 37.7 billion, though this represented improvement from KES 54.2 billion in the prior year. The Ethiopian Birr depreciated 23.7% against the US Dollar during the year to 154.96 by 31 March 2026, weighing on KES-reported figures. On a constant currency basis, the underlying improvement in the business is more pronounced. Ethiopia exited hyperinflationary accounting under IAS 29 effective 30 June 2025 following a sustained decline in inflation, ending a period of complex accounting adjustments that had made year-on-year comparisons difficult. M-PESA launched in Ethiopia during the year, with 30-day active customers exceeding 2.69 million and M-PESA merchants growing 106.6% to 70,045.

Safaricom’s total funding contribution to Ethiopia stood at USD 1.223 billion as at 31 March 2026, with the group’s effective stake in Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia rising to 54.17% from 51.67%.

Balance Sheet and Capital

Total group assets stood at KES 518 billion from KES 515.3 billion, with total equity at KES 230.9 billion from KES 224 billion. Net debt stood at KES 139.8 billion from KES 129.4 billion, reflecting increased borrowings to fund capital expenditure and the Ethiopia build-out. The group returned to the domestic bond market for the first time in over a decade during the year, securing capital at competitive rates.

Dividend and Outlook

The Board declared a total dividend of KES 2.00 per share for the year, comprising an interim of KES 0.85 already paid and a proposed final dividend of KES 1.15, up from KES 1.20 in total for the prior year. The final dividend is payable on or about 4 September 2026 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 4 August 2026, subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting on 31 July 2026.

For FY27, Safaricom guided for group EBIT of KES 180 to 187 billion and group capital expenditure of KES 64 to 70 billion. Kenya EBIT is expected at KES 195 to 199 billion, with Ethiopia’s EBIT loss narrowing to between KES 12 and 15 billion as the market scales and costs moderate. The guidance excludes any IAS 29 impact, following Ethiopia’s exit from hyperinflationary accounting.

Practice trading on NSE without risking real money on Soko Play.  https://academy.nse.co.ke